"There's only one Tree Hill . . . and it's your home."

So, after waiting for an hour and a half in the cold surrounded by screaming sixteen-year-old girls, I gave up on my bid to meet the cast of "One Tree Hill." (Click here to see the Wireimage pictures taken at the event.) This decision was not lightly made and should be treated with the proper decorum. So, rather than telling you the true story of what occurred (I moved ten feet in an hour and talked with Emily on the phone for that entire time and eventually just wound up sneaking into the store to buy Friday Night Lights and the "One Tree Hill" show soundtrack--because they were completely sold out of the DVDs--before heading home to a dinner of Easy Mac), I will tell you what should have happened.

When I arrived at the store, I ran smack into a line of screeching girls, all of whom were convinced that their coolest outfits and a lot of eye makeup would make Chad Michael Murray suddenly fall in love with them and blow off his fiancee, Sophia Bush, who would be sitting next to him. Having finally gotten my press credentials from The Crimson after asking for them twelve times (the latter is actually true, but I still never got them), I decided to bypass most of the line and pose as a member of the press covering the event from a slightly-older-than-the-attending-demographic perspective. After waiting for half an hour (oh, if only it were true), we were ushered into the store where we purchased copies of the Season One DVD for the cast to sign. Always ready for anything, I have my trusty camera in one hand, Diet Coke bottle and 8"X10" photographs of myself, Emily, Melissa, Kelzie, Catherine, Carrie, Sara, and Kate in the other.

I should explain the Diet Coke and photographs (all of which I really did have with me and was prepared to use). "One Tree Hill" served as the backdrop of my senior year of college. It was a sort of homing device: no matter how much work we had to do, my roommates, Catherine, and I would gather around the TV every Tuesday at 9 to regroup and scream like lottery winners every time something new was revealed. If "One Tree Hill" was the backdrop, Diet Coke was the lifeblood--still is, actually. On the last day of college, as my roommates and I were preparing to go our separate ways, we took a picture of all of us with our other roommate: a bottle of Diet Coke. So, my first plan was to take a picture of the cast with our other roommate.

As for the photographs, that relates to the time that Emily and I won the "date" with Ace. The plan that day was to go to the "Real World" meet-n-greet and then go on Kate's bar crawl. Kate's bar crawls always have a scavenger-hunt list associated with them, and one of the items on it was to get the autograph of a B-list celebrity. So, I figured, a picture with three cast members of "The Real World" would probably suffice and get me major points. I had even written Ace a letter inviting him to come on the bar crawl with us when they finished their promo stuff (bringing a C-list celebrity with me would have guaranteed the win). But then Emily won that date, and the bar crawl was forsaken for free dinner.

Sara had recently moved to Washington, D.C., and wasn't able to make it back up for Kate's bar crawl, but I figured she should be in attendance regardless. Melissa printed out a large picture of Sara's head, and my plan was to have everyone on the crawl take a picture with Sara's picture. Because we were no longer going on the crawl, the only thing to do was have Ace take his picture with Sara's picture. This brings us back to yesterday. Sara's picture was tradition. Carrie, Catherine, Melissa, Kelzie, and I would watch the show together, so that explains that picture. Finally, Kate is planning another bar crawl. Her invitation stipulates that having dinner with a member of the "Real World" cast does not count as an excuse not to come. So, I brought her picture so that I could send it to her and say, "Kate, look, you met Chad Michael Murray and the cast of 'One Tree Hill.' Is that an okay enough excuse for me not to make it back to Boston if I can't?"

So, I met all the cast members, they signed my DVDs, and I took their pictures with all of the printed pictures. It was a great time. Then I went home to watch the newest episode of the show while munching on sea bass and risotto.

Oh, and my coolest outfit and lots of eye makeup totally made Chad Michael Murray suddenly fall in love with me and blow off his fiancee, Sophia Bush, who was sitting next to him.

Currently listening to: Rainmarket's September, courtesy of Emily, who turned me on to this amazing band!!!

Currently excited about: The fact that one of the attorneys I work with knows one of the girls from The Parent Trap II and has offered to try to get us together so I can meet her (which I won't do because even I have limits--and would probably pee my pants).